Plumber Jason Mash donating liver to father in mercy dash to India

A Fleurieu Peninsula plumber will make a mercy dash to India to donate his liver to his father who is battling cirrhosis.

Josephine Lim

The AdvertiserApril 18, 20198:59pm

SACRIFICE: Jason Mash and his workmates at PlumbFirst, Jason Polec, Paul Threadgold, Daniel Polec and Shaun White, are going above and beyond to help save the life of Jason’s dad, who is battling cirrhosis in India and is in desperate need of a liver transplant. Picture: Brad FleetSource:News Corp Australia

A Fleurieu Peninsula plumber will make a mercy dash to India to donate his liver to save the life of his father, who is battling cirrhosis.

Jason Mash, 48, of McCracken, will fly to Mumbai for the operation in mid-May to give his 68-year-old father a second chance at life.

His colleagues at PlumbFirst are supporting him by donating their rostered days off so Mr Mash can recover for two months after returning to Adelaide.

Mr Mash was told his father Barry, who lives in Goa, may not live to see the end of the year without the transplant.

Barry Mash is living in Goa, on India’s west coast.Source:Supplied

Mr Mash doesn’t think the donation is particularly heroic or dutiful. “It’s just something you do for your family,” he said.

Several years ago, his father suffered bleeding where veins in his oesophagus burst — a sign of advanced liver disease. “He got on the motorbike and took himself to the hospital,” Mr Mash said.

“(In hospital) he swelled up, putting on 10kg in 10 days with water retention.”

At the time, Mr Mash offered to donate his liver but his father declined — until his diagnosis worsen in the past few months.

The son extended the transplant offer for a second time but test results showed his blood type did not match his father’s.

Fortunately, Mr Mash’s blood type was O positive, making him a universal donor and giving his father another shot at life.

“It’s brilliant … a lot of people don’t get a chance,” he said.

“They want a donor or maybe their relative could be a match but the relative might not want to do it.”

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Mr Mash will undergo transplant surgery, which costs $80,000, at Apollo Navi hospital next month, when 60 per cent of his liver will be donated.

He said his colleagues had offered their rostered days off — one even giving away two weeks — so that he could recuperate and his liver would regenerate.